Roller printer for conveyers



May 31, 1949. s. ROSEN ROLLER PRINTER FOR CONVEYERS Filed Sept. '7', 1945 INVEN TOR. J; Ro/ep (4 7% XXQWWJ Him/Viv Patented May 31, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE (Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended April 30, 1928; 370 0. G. 757) 4 Claims;

The invention described herein, if patented may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to an automatic imprinting machine, and more particularly to an imprinting machine adapted to automatically apply identifying marks or other printing to objects passing along a conveyer.

Heretofore in the marking of large numbers of objects such as shipping containers and packages, it has been customary to make use of stencils or hand stamps or labels of various kinds, all of which methods are tedious, time-consuming and expensive.

It is an object of this invention to provide an automatic imprinting machine capable of use with conveyers of various types whereby objects are automatically labeled or marked in passing along a conveyer, thus entirely eliminating the hand methods previously used.

A further object of the invention is to provide an automatic imprinting machine of portable nature capable of being quickly adapted for use with various types of conveyors.

Another object of the invention is the provision of an automatic imprinting machine which maintains a constant printing pressure thus assurin a clear and perfect marking of all objects passing over it.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of an automatic imprinting machine of simple design and rugged constitution capable of withstanding the rough usage to which such devices are likely to be subjected due to frequent moving about and constant use of the same.

The above and other objects of invention are accomplished by the provision of a printing machine comprising a roller printing unit mounted on a resilient platform structure adapted for association with a conveyer in such a manner that the printing surface of the machine will be brought into constant-pressure contact with objects passing over the conveyer.

The invention will best be understood from the within description of the same taken with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation partly broken away showing the automatic imprinting machine associated with a conveyer;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of Fig. 1 illustrating how the machine is positioned in the conveyer;

Fig. 3 is a sectional View through the imprinting unit and its supporting platform;

Fig. 4 is a plan view illustrating the manner in which the automatic imprinting machine is associated with a conveyer consisting of two parallel sections, and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged, fragmentary, internal View of a portion of the printing-fluid reservoir showing the structure of one of the bearing devices for the printing roller and printing-fluid transfer rollers.

Referring to the drawings I indicates a printing-fluid container or reservoir which may be of any convenient shape such as the rectangular box shown. A printing roller 2 is journalled in reservoir I in any convenient manner as by means of the shaft 3, passing through holes in opposite sides of the reservoir.

The printing roller 2 has on its periphery any desired form of type 4 for producing marks uponan article which passes over the imprinting unit.

Within the reservoir I and located beneath the printing roller 2 are the transfer rollers 8 and 9. A suitable printing fluid 6 such as paint or ink is contained in the reservoir l to about the. level of the journals of the transfer rollers 8. The opening in the top of the reservoir not occupied by the roller 2, may be closed by a hinged cover 1 to provide for convenient introduction of printing fluid into the reservoir.

In the arrangement illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3 there are two of the rollers 8 which dip beneath the level of the printing fluid 6 and transfer the same to the transfer roller 9 from which it is transferred to the type A on the printing roller 2. By this arrangement a constant supply of printing fluid is uniformly distributed over the type and uniform printing on the objects operated upon by the machine is thus assured.

The roller 2 may be of any convenient structure and provided with an insert l0 of heavy material located near the periphery of the roller to cause the same to return to an initial starting position after the passage thereover of an object to be marked. The insert l9 when in its final lowermost position indicates the initial or starting position of the printing roller.

The above described imprinting structure comprises the imprinting unit of the machine and is mounted bodily upon a platform 12 which is resiliently supported on spring l4 surrounding bolts l5 secured to a lower plate [6, as by welding, and passing through holes in the platform l2 in order to act as guides for the up and down vertical movements of the platform. The upward movement of the platform I2 is limited by the nuts ill on the upper ends of the guide bolts 15;

In Fig. 5 there is shown one method by which the transfer rollers 8 and 9, previously referred to, may be supported in reservoir I. Fig. 5 shows a plate 20, two of which are provided, welded or otherwise secured inside the opposite sides of the reservoir l. The plates 20 are provided with the vertical slots 2| and 22, the two slots 2| being located at a lower level than the slot 22. The rollers 8 are adapted to be journalled in the slots 2| and the transfer roller 9 in the slots 22, and these rollers and slots are so arranged and proportioned that the surfaces of the rollers 8 and 9 will be in contact, so that the printing fluid will be transferred from rollers 8 to the roller 9 by the movement imparted to the latter by the turning of the printing roller 2 with the type 4 in engagement therewith. Thus the coating of the type 4 with printing fluid takes place in an obvious manner.

In use the imprinting unit may be placed in position in a conveyer such as the roller conveyer 25, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. For this purpose a space may be provided in the conveyor of suflicient size to accommodate the imprinting unit, as by the removal of several of the rollers of the conveyer, or two separate sections of conveyer may be arranged in end to end spaced apart relation with the imprinting unit between the adjacent ends. The imprinting unit is located on a supporting base 23 of any convenient character, suchas a wooden block to which the unit is secured by screw bolts 24. The base 23 is made of such a height that when the imprinting unit is in position the type 4 carried on the roller 2 will project slightly above the supporting surfaces of the conveyer 25, in order to assure a good impression of the type against the surface of an object passing therealong.

As indicated in Fig. 1, when the imprinting unit is in its proper operating position, and an object to be marked, such as the container 21, passes along the conveyer 25 the bottom of the container will engage the type 4 of the roller 2, and passing thereover will rotate the roller 2 and receive an impression from the type. By reason of the projection of the type 4 a slight distance above the supporting surfaces of the conveyer, the engagement of the container 21 therewith will depress the imprinting unit against the springs l4, assuring a constant imprinting pressure of the type against the surface to be marked.

Immediately upon the passage of an object on the conveyer beyond the imprinting unit the same will be released, and the insert will cause the imprinting roller 2 to move to its initial starting position, with the insert in its lowermost position, in readiness for the next marking operation. Thus the imprinting unit is always in condition to mark any object passing over the conveyer, and the marking operation will always begin at the same point on the imprinting roller, insuring that the indicia carried thereby will always appear in the same order on the objects marked. It will of course be understood that other mechanically equivalent means may be provided instead of the insert [0 to assure the return of the printing roller to its initial starting position after a printing operation thereof.

Fig. 4 illustrates the manner in which the imprinting unit may be positioned between two parallel arranged sections 28 and 29 of a conveyer when such arrangement is found desirable or convenient.

From the foregoing description of the invention, it will be apparent that an imprinting unit is provided which is easily adaptable to any type 4 of conveyer, is of rugged and durable structure and positive and automatic in operation.

Having thus clearly shown and described the invention, what is claimed and desired to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A portable automatic imprinting device for imprinting the bottom of an object moving over a conveyer spaced from the ground, said imprinting device being adapted to be moved into cooperative relation selectively either with a conveyer section recessed to permit said imprinting device to protrude through said conveyer section, or with two substantially parallel conveyer sections laterally spaced from each other to permit said imprinting device to protrude between said conveyer sections; said imprinting device comprising: a ground-engaging support unconnected to said conveyer, an imprinting fluid reservoir, yieldable means securing said reservoir to said groundengaging support and urging said reservoir upwardly, a horizontal shaft across said reservoir above the imprinting fluid level, a printing roller on said shaft, and means responsive to rotation of said printing roller for transferring imprinting fluid from said reservoir to said printing roller; whereby said printing roller is positively urged upwardly above the load-conveying surface of said conveyer into printing contact with said object to be imprinted.

2. A portable automatic imprinting device for imprinting the bottom of an object moving over a conveyer spaced from the ground, said imprinting device being adapted to be moved into cooperative relation selectively either with a conveyer section recessed to permit said imprinting device to protrude through said conveyer section, or with two substantially parallel conveyer sections laterally spaced from each other to permit said imprinting device to protrude between said conveyer sections; said imprinting device comprising a ground-engaging support unconnected to said conveyer, an imprinting fluid reservoir, yieldable means securing said reservoir to said ground-engaging support and urging said reservoir upwardly, said means comprising a plurality of springs compressible under the weight of said object, a horizontal shaft across said reservoir above the imprinting fluid level, a printing roller on said shaft, and means responsive to rotation of said printing roller for transferring imprinting fluid from said reservoir to said printing roller; whereby said printing roller is positively urged upwardly above the load-conveying surface of said conveyer into printing contact with said object to be imprinted.

3. In combination: a conveyer spaced from the ground and a portable automatic imprinting device for imprinting the bottom of an object moving over said conveyer; said conveyer comprising a section recessed to permit said imprinting device to protrude through said conveyer section; and said imprinting device comprising a groundengaging support unconnected to said conveyer, an imprinting fluid reservoir, yieldable means securing said reservoir to said ground-engaging support and urging said reservoir upwardly, a horizontal shaft across said reservoir above the imprinting fluid level, a printing roller on said shaft, and means responsive to rotation of said printing roller for transferring imprinting fluid from said reservoir to said printing roller; whereby said' printing roller is positively urged upwardly above the load-conveying surface of said conveyer into printing contact with said object I to. be imprinted,. when said imprinting device is positioned beneath the recessed portion of said conveyer section.

4. In combination: a conveyer system spaced from the ground and a portable automatic imprinting device for imprinting the bottom of an object moving over said conveyer system; said conveyer system comprising two substantially parallel conveyer sections laterally spaced from each other to permit said imprinting device to protrude through the space between said conveyer sections; and said imprinting device comprising a ground-engaging support unconnected to said conveyer, an imprinting fluid reservoir, yieldable means securing said reservoir to said ground-engaging support and urging said reservoir upwardly, a horizontal shaft across said reservoir above the imprinting fiuid level, a printing roller on said shaft, and means responsive to rotation of said printing roller for transferring imprinting fiuid from said reservoir to said printing roller; whereby said printing roller is positively urged upwardly above the load-conveying surface of said conveyer system into printing contact with said object to be imprinted, when said imprinting device is positioned between said substantially parallel conveyer sections.

SHY ROSEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent: 

